Investigators work a crime scene at a convenience store in the Boulevard Park area of South King County early Sunday. A masked man wielding a hatchet walked into the store swinging before he was fatally shot by a customer. KIROTV.com

Investigators work a crime scene at a convenience store in the Boulevard Park area of South King County early Sunday. A masked man wielding a hatchet walked into the store swinging before he was fatally shot by a customer. KIROTV.com

UPDATE, 4:15 p.m. Monday: The King County medical examiner identified the hatchet-wielding man as Steven Blacktongue, 43. The shooting took place in unincorporated King County, according to sheriff’s spokeswoman Sgt. Cindi West.

ORIGINAL STORY: A customer shot and killed a hatchet-wielding man attacking a clerk at a convenience store near Burien early Sunday.

About 5:45 a.m., a masked man about 40 years old walked into a 7-Eleven near South 110th Street and Eighth Avenue South and swung a hatchet at a customer, said King County Sheriff’s Sgt. Cindi West. The man then went behind the counter and attacked the 58-year-old clerk, never saying anything.

Within seconds, a customer pulled out a handgun and shot and killed the attacker, likely saving the clerk’s life, West said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.